Hellobee Boards

I use it! Its free, so I figured why not (plus, you link it to your credit/debit cards, and you can still get your credit card reward points, so cash back + points without having to do any extra work? Heck yes!)

Honestly, I don’t think it’s that spectacular – but I think it could be depending on your spending habits. I think its success depends on where you buy, and how much you buy – our main grocery store isn’t in their program, and many of the places we eat out at on a regular basis are not included, etc. They do have a UPromise credit card, which sounds like a much better deal (i.e., 11% cash back on restaurants vs. 2-3%).

Like I said, its really no work to use UPromise. You set up an account, register the credit/debit cards you use, including grocery reward cards, CVS/Rite Aid type rewards cards, gas cards – and then whenever you make a qualifying purchase on one of the cards, you get a % cash back. Your cash back savings is held in a fund, and then you can either transfer that money into a 529 plan for LO’s college, a Sallie Mae high yield savings account (this is what I do), or use the money against the balance of your Sallie Mae student loans.

MIL always shops through upromise. I had never heard of it before she mentioned it to me.

One more point too: Your friends and family can register for UPromise, but have UPromise send their cash back savings to *you*. We’re thinking about asking the grandparents if they would be interested in doing this once LO is here. They don’t need to do anything (besides initially register their credit/debit cards, and direct UPromise to send you, instead of them, the cash back $). This seems like another easy way to save a little bit extra – or put a little bit extra into LO’s college fund.